It is generally known to provide a vehicle including a vehicle frame assembly of any known or appropriate type, such as a unitary body or a cab on frame assembly. It is also generally known to provide a vehicle including various structures for improving the performance of the vehicle during a variety of types of impacts to the vehicle. The performance of a vehicle and its various structures, assemblies, and components from an impact may be assessed using a variety of crash tests and analytical methodologies.
A frontal crash test having a relatively small amount of overlap may be designed to attempt to replicate what may happen when only a relatively small portion of the front corner of a vehicle collides with another object like a vehicle, tree, utility pole or the like. One known industry test is the small overlap rigid barrier (SORB) test. In the SORB test, a vehicle travels at 40 mph toward a 5-foot-tall rigid barrier and only the outer 25% of the vehicle width is impacted into the barrier. It is generally understood that most modern vehicles may be designed to have safety cages and other structures, assemblies and components for protecting the occupant compartment and built to help manage energy with controlled and limited deformation to the vehicle during a variety of impacts to the vehicle from most direction, including a head-on and overlap frontal crashes. The crush zones of the main body and frame structures are designed to manage the crash energy to reduce forces on the occupant compartment and its occupants. When a crash involves these structures, the occupant compartment may generally be protected from intrusion, and the airbags and safety restraints may perform to restrain vehicle occupants.
Small overlap frontal crashes primarily affect a vehicle's outer edges, which may not be directly protected by the some of the primary crush-zone structures. In such a scenario, crash forces may go directly into the front wheel, suspension system and potentially the vehicle bulkhead and cab including the passenger compartment. In a small overlap crash that does not engage the main structures of the vehicle, it may be possible for the wheel to be forced rearward toward the passenger compartment and the door hinge pillar of the cab of the vehicle. The wheel may even be trapped and forced into the body structure where local loads that may surpass the strength of the steel or aluminum structures and couplings.
There remains a continuing and significant need to provide improved impact or crush performance structures having a lower cost structure and an improved performance in a greater number of scenarios. In particular, there remains a continuing and significant need to provide an improved impact performance of a vehicle that will include reducing intrusion of the forward structures of the vehicle into the cab or occupant compartment of the vehicle.